1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to disposable lighter, and more particularly to a safety lighter for preventing the minor to ignite the lighter so as to guarantee the safety of children.
2. Description of Related Arts
The traditional disposable lighters are popular because they are easy to ignite and operate.
However, for protecting the safety and benefit of children, starting from 1993 to 1994, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission declared that it should stop selling the traditional disposable lighter. In view of protecting the safety of children, it is absolutely necessary and reasonable to do so. Therefore, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission imposed an important regulation that xe2x80x9cChild below 4 years old cannot light the lighterxe2x80x9d.
Accordingly, various kinds of disposable lighter having switching mechanism for rendering the lighter being child resistant are developed. Typical examples include the U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,414 issued to Zellweger and the U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,370 issued to Hwang. In order to improve the drawbacks of both the Zellweger""s and Hwang""s patents, a safety lighter was invented, U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,674, which was issued on Jun. 22, 1999 and assigned to the applicant of the present invention.
According to the disclosure of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,674, the driving wheels are arranged loosely rotatable around the driven bodies when the driving wheels have not been depressed. When a depressing force is applied downwardly to the driving wheels, the driving grooves are pressed to engage with the driven spurs of the two driven bodies. Therefore, when the driving wheels are depressed and turned, the two driven bodies are driven to strike the spark wheel against the flint. However, since the driving holes of the driving wheels must be larger than the driven bodies so as to render the driving wheels being loosely rotatable around the driven bodies normally. In other words, the driving wheels are loosely put on the driven bodies, so that laterally movement may be occurred for the unstable driving wheels during the rotation around the smaller driven bodies that may adversely affect the ignition operation of the lighter.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a safety lighter that can prevent the minor, especially under 4 years old, to ignite the lighter so as to guarantee the safety of children, wherein the driving wheels are better supported in a stable and a free rotatable manner that can guide the rotation of the driving wheels effectively.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety lighter having two positioning discs provided on two outer sides of two driving wheels respectively, so as to prevent lateral movements of the two driving wheels with respect to the wheel axles and ensure the spark wheel being driven by the driving wheels.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety lighter wherein the spark wheel can be easily mounted on a central position between the two supporting walls. Since the spark wheel is supported by the two wheel axles on both sides respectively, the two wheel axles can substantially prevent the spark wheel to move aside, so that the spark wheel can permanently remain in a central position, between the two wheel axles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety lighter, which does not require incorporating with any additional element in order to provide safety feature for preventing the children to ignite the lighter. Moreover, the assemble of the spark wheel and the two wheel axles are as simple and easy as studding two inner ends of the two wheel axles to the two side holes of the spark wheel respectively. Therefore, the manufacturing cost and process of the present invention can thus be remained as usual.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a safety lighter, comprising:
a supporting frame disposed on a gas reservoir having a valve which is actuated by a gas lever pivotally mounted on the supporting frame for actuating the valve to release gas within the gas reservoir therefrom, wherein the supporting frame comprises two supporting walls parallelly protruded on opposite sides of the gas lever and each of the supporting walls has a supporting hole provided thereon; and
an ignition means comprising:
a flint supported by a resilient element;
a spark wheel which is rotatably mounted on the supporting frame and has a striking surface in contact with the flint, wherein the flint is retained urging against the striking surface of the spark wheel by means of the resilient element for generating sparks directed toward the valve when the striking surface is driven to strike against, and that two sides of the spark wheel each has an axle hole, a periphery of each of the axle holes having a plurality of evenly spaced engaging indentions;
two wheel axles, each having a round supporting axle for rotatably inserting into one of the supporting holes, a driving axle for inserting into one of the axle holes of the spark wheel, wherein a periphery of the driving axle has a plurality of evenly spaced protrusions adapted for firmly engaging with the engaging indentions of the axle hole of the spark wheel, and-a round driven body integrally formed between the supporting axle and the driving axle, wherein a plurality of axial driven spurs are evenly spaced and protruded on an outer circular surface of the driven body;
two driving wheels, which are supported by the two driven bodies of the two wheel axles respectively, each having an outer knurling surface, a central driving hole having a diameter larger than that of the driven body so as to enable the driving wheel to loosely rotate around the driven body without being depressed, and a receiving cavity which is indented on an outer side of the driving wheel and has a diameter larger than that of the central driving hole, wherein a plurality of axial driving grooves are evenly spaced and indented around a periphery of the driving hole, thereby when a depressing force is applied downwardly to the two driving wheels, the driving grooves thereof are pressed to engage with the driven spurs of the two driven bodies, so that when the driving wheels are depressed and turned, the two driven bodies are driven to strike the spark wheel against the flint; and
two positioning discs, which are disposed in the receiving cavities of the two driving wheels and supported by the two driven bodies of the two wheel axles respectively, each having a center hole adapted for fittedly engaging with an outer portion of the respective driven body, whereby the two driving wheels are guided to rotate between two sides of the spark wheel and the two positioning discs respectively so as to prevent lateral movement of the driving wheels during rotation.